Conceived as a next generation bushplane with turbine power, the Caravan was a huge risk for Cessna to take at a time when aircraft sales were collapsing and the selling price of a new turboprop would have to be multiples of the prices for the used, piston-pounding DeHavilland Beavers and Otters with which it was to compete. At $650,000 in 1985, the folks who worked airplanes hard for a living wore down a lot of sharp pencils trying to figure out whether Cessnas new load hauler would also carry the debt load that would come with it.